Sixty Days: Countdown on the whiteboard

Since Friday, when they heard that the P-I was going to go up for sale, the people who work here have been left in the frustrating position of having a lot of questions and very few answers.

The clearest illustration of how tough this is to deal with can be found on the newsroom whiteboard — the one that hangs just a few feet from the spot where Hearst president Steve Swartz addressed the staff with the grim news Friday.

The most notable thing about what’s been appearing on this whiteboard: even its premise is uncertain. Swartz said Friday Hearst would try to sell the P-I for 60 days. Staff still don’t know for sure when the countdown began.

The best we could do was start on Saturday. And here’s what’s happened since:

“Sixty Days: A P-I Journal” is a look at the thoughts of a daily newsroom faced with the possibility of closure and hoping for the best. More on why we’re doing it here.